An Easy (& Kinda Healthy!) Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

As I write this post, I am trembling with excitement because P and I went house shopping today and stumbled across our dream home. Eeee!! I’m trying really, really hard not to get my hopes up about the house because everyone we know in Portland who’s bought a house recently has gone through several rejected offers before securing a home. Before we started this process we promised each other we wouldn’t get attached to any houses, but I just have a feeling about this place. I don’t believe in fate, but I do believe that sometimes things align in your life with perfect timing and you know when it’s happening because everything feels right. Do you know what I mean? It’s the same feeling I had when I met P and knew immediately that he was my person for life. Eeeeeee! Now that that’s out of my system, I’m brewing some herbal tea and cutting myself a piece of P’s leftover birthday cake to calm down.

While we’re talking about cake, I’ve been meaning to share this super simple yet incredibly delicious blood orange olive oil cake. It’s airy and moist and not too sweet, with a citrusy zing and the prettiest pink glaze I ever did see. Since it’s made with olive oil instead of butter, the only fats it has are the wholesome, healthful kind. My mom came over and reluctantly tried some – she’s not much of a sweet tooth – and immediately asked for a second slice. Yesterday she called and asked me to make it for her birthday in June. It’s officially a winner! You’ll want to make this one before blood oranges disappear for the winter if you’re like me and you’re currently hooked on everything pink, but even after they’re gone this would be tasty with any regular orange, too. Let me know how it turns out if you try it!

What a beautiful cake! It’s been a long time since I’ve made an olive oil cake, but I’ll have to try veganizing it, too.

That snowstorm was a doozy, wasn’t it? I kept saying that it was the most snow I’d ever seen in Portland, and then I saw articles saying that indeed, it was the most in my lifetime! It was quite a good way to force us to get creative with the contents of our pantries and fridges, though 🙂

Good luck buying your dream house! Some friends in Portland have had good luck, and some have lost out on multiple houses, so you never know. We got lucky with ours, and didn’t have any other offers, but that was a few years ago, and there was other drama, instead. What part of town are you looking in?

Hi Rachel! Thanks so much for your kind words. I can’t wait to check out your blog! 🙂 If you do make a vegan version let me know how it turns out! I’ve been experimenting with more vegan bakes lately and I’m always interested to hear everyone else’s techniques. We’d like to stay in SE where we are now and not have to go too far out, but after going through a few bidding wars with 10-15 other offers (in February!), we may have to widen our search. Who are these people with all that cash!?

Oh man, bidding wars sound so stressful, I’m sorry! I always blame out-of-state investors or techies fleeing California or Seattle, but that’s probably not fair. Nobody I know has that kind of cash sitting around! Crossing my fingers that it works out for you soon.

I’m just starting to experiment with vegan baking, but it hasn’t been difficult so far (I’ll probably sing a different tune after my first failure).

That’s who we’ve been blaming too! It’s hard to know who we’re really up against though. And I can’t hold it against sellers who go with the highest bid. It is discouraging, though, knowing we can’t afford to buy where we’re renting now, which is where I spent a lot of my childhood and my mom grew up. It’s sort of like being displaced from your own history in a way. We have another offer in now…fingers crossed!
If you’re ever looking for vegan baking inspo, I often look to Heidi from the blog Enlightened Decadence and highly recommend her recipes!